Individuals who handle food, for example, in restaurants are at a high risk of spreading disease if they do not handle food properly. One of the most common risks occurs when such individuals do not wash their hands after using a lavatory or bathroom. For this reason, most municipalities have laws which specifically require hand washing by such individuals and also require the proprietor to post notices informing individuals that they must wash their hands before returning to work.
Nevertheless, individuals will occasionally fail to wash their hands under these circumstances, whether by inadvertence or laziness. It would therefore be desirable to have a system which could monitor individuals using a lavatory, without invading their privacy, which could assure that they wash their hands as required by law and dictated by good hygienic practice.